


The Tenth

by silverspatuler



Category: DAYS (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, I guess????????, M/M, but i figured i might as well upload it, im sorry in advance yall, out of season birthday fic, this might never be finished
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 14:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10192199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverspatuler/pseuds/silverspatuler
Summary: Ooshiba had never been one for gifts—he’d gotten those all the time from his parents when he was a kid—and it felt good just being greeted by his teammates on his birthday (Especially when it was his juniors. His nose grew about three times that day), but he didn’t expect to receive any until he got home.Which is why, after practice was over, a green, cylindrical box near his bag in the clubroom caught him by surprise. “Hey,” he blurted out. “Who put this here?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> after i looked at the preview i cant believe how.....short........it is...........what is pacing.........

Ooshiba had never been one for gifts—he’d gotten those all the time from his parents when he was a kid—and it felt good just being greeted by his teammates on his birthday (Especially when it was his juniors. His nose grew about three times that day), but he didn’t expect to receive any until he got home.

Which is why, after practice was over, a green, cylindrical box near his bag in the clubroom caught him by surprise. “Hey,” he blurted out. “Who put this here?”

The only people left in the clubroom were Haibara and Usui. Haibara merely shrugged. And Usui replied, with a knowing smile on his face, “An admirer, perhaps?”

“How’d they get into the clubroom?”

“Then, an admirer from the team.”

“Hah?” Ooshiba sounded like he was a bit weirded out, but in truth he was welling with pride for the fourth time that day. _So maybe some junior here can actually recognize talent when they see it._

“Ooh, enjoy your present, Shiba!” Haibara said as he made his way to the door with Usui. “Probably chocolates or something. Check if there’s a note inside, too! Happy birthday, again~!”

Ooshiba watched him skip through the doorway, and then, deciding he’d have to examine the contents of the box later, followed suit shortly after.

~

Ooshiba’s bag felt considerably heavier as he walked back home from school. _What the hell was in that damn tin? Food? Money? Something handmade?_ He didn’t notice his feet taking him home faster than usual, the slight skip in his step, or the small, almost unnoticeable, yet uncontrollable smile creeping up on his face as he pondered over the contents of the box.

The moment he opened his house’s front door, he yelled out a quick “I’m home” and rushed to his bedroom. Pulling the green gift box out of his bag and practically _throwing_ said bag onto his bed, he sat down at his desk and started to pry the lid open.

It had been sealed pretty well, which just tested Ooshiba’s patience more than it should. Now that he was alone, there was no containing his excitement, along with his temper.

“Oh, come on! You want me to open it, or not, huh?!?” he cursed, picking a fight with a box. In all his struggling, he only just now noticed that his own name had been written on the bottom of the container. In really nice handwriting, actually. However…

“’ _Kiichi_ ’? Just ‘ _Kiichi’_? Who do they think they are?!” Ooshiba wanted to know who the mystery sender was more than ever. He went back to trying to get the box to open, when there was a sudden knock on his door, which made Ooshiba nearly drop to the floor.

Just when he had successfully hidden the box under his desk, his mother came into the room holding a plate of cookies, if Ooshiba hadn’t heard her come in, he’d have been able to smell them.

“Happy birthday, dear,” she chirped. “I got off work early to bake you these! Your father couldn’t come, though, and he’ll be working late to make up for lost time from when he took a long vacation. And I myself have to get back there quickly.”

“Oh, thanks, Mom,” Ooshiba said. “It’s alright. Where’s sis?”

“She said her present isn’t ready yet, I think.”

Ooshiba nearly laughed at the thought of her getting something for him. “She’s probably lying and doesn’t actually have anything.”

His mother didn’t say anything in reply. She just smiled, placed the cookies on his desk, kissed his head and waved as she left the room. Ooshiba calmed down significantly after that. He retrieved the green box back from under his desk, and was finally able to open it in one go.

The metal lid came off with a loud popping noise, and Ooshiba peered inside. He pulled out an entire box of chocolate-flavored pretzels, a small box of colorful macaroons, a pack of assorted licorice, and a handful of lollipops. Haibara-senpai had been right about there being a note, as well.

Ooshiba was in awe at the sight of all these treats, and another smile graced his features. The note was just a small piece of black, folded paper. When he opened it, there was the same, neat handwriting he had found on the bottom of the gift, in white ink:

 

_Heard you liked sweets.  
Happy Birthday._

_十_

 

Great. So he can’t even know who gave him the gift? How was he even supposed to figure it out?

~

~

~

The next day at school, during practice, Ooshiba took a break to think about who the sender might’ve been. There were a lot of people he immediately ruled out of the equation, namely Kazama, Kimishita, and pretty much everyone in his grade. Not wanting to try to figure it out himself, he went to Satou and Suzuki and asked if either of them left had left the gift for him, or if they had any clue as to who it was. Ooshiba only ended up storming off after they informed him that they had no idea what he was talking about. His next target, who he randomly chose just a few feet away, was Tsukamoto.

“Hello, Ooshiba-senpai!” he chirped. “Is there anything I could do for you?”

“I just wanna ask you about something,” said Ooshiba.

“What is it?”

“As you know, it was my birthday yesterday—”Tsukamoto nodded vigorously“—and I found a gift for me in the clubroom, but no one had signed it. I wanna know who it is. Well, it was signed, but it’s with some weird symbol. Do you happen to know anything about it?” He stooped his head down to Tsukamoto’s height, and the poor boy started sweating profusely.

“Oh! W-Well, I don’t know anything about that, but I could help you find out who gave it to you! Um, if you…would let me…that is.”

Ooshiba thought about it. He _had_ actually brought the box along with him that day, since he was planning on eating its contents during recess. But if he was going to ask for help, he wasn’t about to ask Tsukamoto, of all people. And right as he was considering who he’d choose to help him, Kazama approached them and interrupted his train of thought.

“Yo, I heard from Haibara-chan that you got a gift from a secret admirer,” he said in a teasing voice. “What was it? Let me see! Is it from a girl?”

“Ha! I’ll let you take a look, but you’ll probably just get jealous, since you never get gifts from secret admirers!”

Tsukamoto chimed in. “Ah, Kazama-kun got confessed to by three girls these past two months, actually! It’s pretty amazing.”

Ooshiba wished he had brought some tape with him that day.

~

“Aah! Shiba, you dummy! This is the _kanji_ for the number ten, not a symbol!” Haibara aimed a slap at his head, but couldn’t reach it and ended up hitting his shoulder instead.

“Huh? How did you know?” Ooshiba asked.

“Look closer,” Usui chimed in. “Those are calligraphy strokes, aren’t they? And that’s what the letter was signed off with. It must mean _something._ ”

“Wait…Oh—!”

When he said that, Ooshiba noticed Usui looking off somewhere in the distance, smiling slightly, with a sharp look in his eyes, and then sharing that same look with Haibara, before quickly facing Ooshiba again.

That must’ve meant something, as well, but Ooshiba paid it no mind.

~

Later in the clubroom, Haibara complained to Inohara about how dumb Ooshiba is.

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhh that sucked lol
> 
> stay tuned for more garbage


End file.
